Joey Logano is held back by crew members after an altercation with Tony Stewart after Sunday's Auto Club 400 in Fontana, Calif. / Jonathan Ferrey, Getty Images

by Jeff Gluck, USA TODAY Sports

by Jeff Gluck, USA TODAY Sports

FONTANA, Calif. - Tony Stewart, furious after the final restart of the Auto Club 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup race Sunday, ran over to Joey Logano's car after the race to confront the driver.

Stewart exchanged words and a series of hard shoves before the altercation escalated and Stewart was pulled away by crew members.

Logano also threw a water bottle at Stewart, which the latter driver described as the actions of "a little girl."

"It's time he learns a lesson," Stewart said. "He's run his mouth long enough and done this double standard, but he's nothing but a little rich kid who has never had to work in his life."

Kyle Busch won the race after Logano and Denny Hamlin crashed on the final lap. Hamlin was airlifted to a hospital after complaining of lower back pain at the infield care center, where he was awake and alert. Hamlin will remain hospitalized overnight for observation.

Stewart, who has won two of the past four races at the track, led 18 laps and had a chance to run up front - along with a handful of other drivers - on the final restart.

But when Logano decided to block Stewart down to the inside - which Stewart said Logano had been complaining about with other drivers recently - it incensed the three-time Cup champion.

Stewart completely lost his momentum and began drifting back, ultimately finishing 22nd.

"He has that right, he has the choice to do that," Stewart said. "If he ever turns down across in front of me again, I don't care what lap it is, he won't make it through the other end of it.

"I'm tired of these guys doing that stuff. Especially out of a kid that's been griping about everybody else and then he does that the next week. He sent Denny to the hospital and screwed our day up. He's talked the talk, but he hasn't walked the walk yet. He's always got his crew guys walking the walk for him.

Logano said he felt the restart could be the difference in the race and he was just racing hard.

"I had to throw the block there," he said. "That was a race for the lead. I felt if the 14 got underneath me, that was going to be the end of my opportunity to win the race, so I was just trying to protect the spot I had."

Logano, who finished sixth despite the last-lap crash, had driven past Busch and into the lead before Hamlin was able to track him down with a handful of laps remaining. The former teammates battled for the final few laps before colliding in Turn 3 of the final lap, where Hamlin ended up hitting the inside wall head-on. His car came off the ground as it spun.

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